Location unit

ABSTRACT

A locating unit intended to be applied to an object and including a transmitter and a receiver of identifying radio frequency search signals, further comprising means by which it can function as a searcher, including a device for selecting objects to be located and for activating a search signal, also further comprising means by which it can function as an indicator, including a device for emitting an indicating signal at the reception of a search signal emitted by a second locating unit, cooperating with said first locating unit.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to locating of certain objects. Inparticular, the invention relates to a locating unit, including atransmitter and a receiver, intended to be applied to objects which aredesirable to locate. The invention also relates to a method of locatingobjects provided with the invented locating unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

Small objects which are valuable to their owner, such as, for example, amobile phone, a bunch of keys, a pair of glasses or a wallet, aresomtimes difficult to find, e.g. in the home, even though the ownerknows that the objects are located somewhere nearby. It can be timeconsuming and sometimes impossible to locate them, which may cause aproblem, especially when it is urgent. This may happen when going towork in the morning and there is no time to look for the missing object.Another problem, in case the object consists of the owners glasses, isthat the owner may have difficulties locating the object by eyesightonly, since the eyesight is limited without them.

Thus, there is a great demand for facilitating the location of certainvaluable objects located within a limited area, such as, for example, ahome.

In EP 0 089 667 this problem is solved by means of a unit comprising atransmitter of short range radio frequency signals, and one or moreunits comprising receivers of the signals and the emission of anindicating sound signal. These receiving units are intended to beattached to the objects to be located, for example a keyring.

A disadvantage with this prior art system is that the user must find thesending unit to be able to locate the lost object.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to enable locating andsupervision of certain objects of value for the owner, without the ownerhaving to hold on to any special sending unit in order to perform thelocating.

This object is achieved by the locating unit according to claim 1 andthe methods of locating according to claims 8 and 11, enablingreciprocal locating or supervision of valuable objects. By means of thisreciprocal locating, any of the objects provided with the inventedlocating unit can be located or supervised from any of the other objectsalso carrying such a locating unit, provided that the locating units areadapted to cooperate with each other.

The objects being desirable to locate or supervise are provided with alocating unit, comprising a transmitter and a receiver of identifyingradio frequency search signals. The locating unit also comprises meansby which it can function as a searcher, including a device by which theowner can select which object to locate and activate a search signal,and also means by which it can function as an indicator, including meansfor activating an indicating signal by which the object can be found.

The search signal may also be activated to be emitted at fixedintervals, which may be suitable when it is desirable to superviseobjects and check that objects, provided with cooperating locatingunits, are not separated too far from each other.

The locating unit may be applied to a mobile phone by being integratedtherewith. This mobile phone is preferably the owners regular mobilephone, which is provided with a transmitter and a receiver of radiofrequency signals, for example a so-called Bluetooth.

When contact has been established between two locating units, anindicating light, sound or vibrating signal may be activated on thesearched object, after which it can easily be found.

Thus, the invented locating unit can function both as a searcher and asan indicator, and it is intended to be applied to the valuable objectswhich are desirable to locate.

The device for selecting an object to be located and for activation of acontinuously emitted search signal or a search signal emitted at fixedintervals, may be designed as a keypad.

The device for indicating that a searched object is located may includea display arranged on the unit. When the indication is activated, anindicating signal is emitted, primarily on the unit functioning as anindicator and which is attached to the searched object. Alternatively,indication may take place on the unit functioning as a searcher, bystating that contact is established with the indicating unit on thesearched object.

Another possibility is that in indicating signal is emitted both on thesearched and on the search locating unit when an indication isactivated.

The indicating device may also include a sound- or light signal emittingmeans and/or a vibrating means.

In an invented method, locating of objects is performed, the objectsbeing provided with the invented locating unit including a transmitterand a receiver of radio frequency signals. Reciprocal locating can beperformed between objects provided with cooperating locating units byany one of them constituting the searched object, which is located bybeing selected on a first locating unit provided on any of the otherobjects. Thereby, this first locating unit functions as a searching unitand establishes a wireless contact with a second locating unit providedon the searched object, after which an indicating signal is activated.Thus, the second locating unit functions as an indicator.

One of the objects may comprise a mobile phone provided with a locatingunit, such that the mobile phone is integrated with a locating unit.

An indicating signal may be activated on the searching locating unit aswell, when contact is established between a searching locating unit andthe indicating locating unit.

A second invented method relates to the supervision of one or moreobjects provided with a locating unit, by means of another objectprovided with a cooperating locating unit. In this case, a search signalis activated to be emitted at fixed intervals, and an indicating signalis activated when a search has resulted in that contact is notestablished, by which an alarm function is obtained.

By providing two or more of the owners valuable objects with theinvented unit, the units being adapted to cooperate with each other,enabling the locating or supervising of a selectable object from eachone of the other objects. Thereby, the owner does not have to hold on toany separate searching unit. It is likely that the owner always carrieswith him at least one of his valuable objects, by means of this which hewill always be able to locate any one of the other objects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in greater detail below, with referenceto the FIGS. 1 and 2, of which

FIG. 1 shows a locating unit which is able to function both as asearcher and as an indicator, and

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invented locating unit, beingintegrated with a mobile phone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of the invented locating unit 1,which is able to function both as a searcher and as an indicator. It canbe applied to a valuable object, such as, for example, a bunch of keys,by means of a small hole 5 in a corner of the unit, in which a key ringcan be attached. Other kinds of fastening means are also possible, suchas a clamp or a Velcro®-fastening strip.

The locating unit showed in FIG. 1 is provided with a transmitter and areceiver of identifying, short range radio frequency signals, forexample according to the so called Bluetooth-standard. These areavailable in the shape of small modules transmitting at the freeISM-frequency of approximately 2.4 Ghz. A Bluetooth transmitter has arelatively short range, which, however, is sufficient for searches in ahome or at a place of work.

The locating units on the objects in question may be adapted tocooperate with each other by assigning an identity to each one of thedifferent units, for example a number, to be used in the following wayfor searching a selected locating unit: By using the keypad 3, which thelocating unit may be provided with, an object can be selected by meansof its number, and a search signal can be activated, for example by oneof the keys of the keypad, to contact a locating unit associated withthe selected number. If the unit is provided with a display 4 as well,this may disclose which object that is to be searched. When the searchedobject has been located this may be indicated by a text or a flashing inthe display of the searched locating unit. This indication may alsooccur on the searching locating unit. In this way, a message indicatingthat the searched object is located, for example, within a certainradius, can be seen on the object provided with the searching locatingunit. The locating unit may also be provided with a sound emitting andvibrating means which is activated when a locating has taken place. Bythe aid of signals from these it is easy to find the object.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invented locating unit, beingintegrated with a mobile phone 6. This may, for example, imply that themobile phone is provided with a small Bluetooth-module 2, and that theordinary keypad 3, display 4, ringing signals and any vibrations of themobile phone are used during the search. Conveniently, an owner may usehis regular mobile phone for searching other objects, which on theirpart are carrying locating units 1, provided that the mobile phone andthe locating units are adapted to cooperate with each other.

When it is desirable to locate or supervise any of the objects providedwith a locating unit 1, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, or a mobilephone 6 with a locating function as shown in FIG. 2, any of the objectson which cooperating locating units are applied can be used. On thekeypad 3 of the locating unit/mobile phone the object to be searched canbe selected. The different objects may preferably be coded with anumber, such that the mobile phone may have number 1, the wallet mayhave number 2, the keys may have number 3 and the glasses number 4. Whenone wants to perform a search for the glasses, number 4 is selected on alocating unit applied to any of the other objects, and a search signalis activated. The search signal from this object now searches for anobject being associated with number 4. When contact has been establishedwith the locating unit applied to the glasses, an indicating signal isactivated thereby, such as a flashing light on the display or on aseparate indicator button, a sound signal and/or a vibrating signal.Guided by this signal, the owner should easily be able to find hisglasses. An indicating signal may possibly be emitted on the searchinglocating unit as well.

Alternatively, the search signal may be activated to be emitted at fixedintervals, in order to supervise an object during a longer period oftime and check that has not been removed outside the range of the searchsignal. In this case, the indicating signal is arranged to be activatedin case contact is not established between the cooperating locatingunits, the indicating signal thereby constituting an alarm function.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments,but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A locating unit, arranged to be applied to an object and comprising atransmitter and a receiver of identifying radio frequency searchsignals, wherein: searching means for searching at least one otherobject provided with a second, cooperating locating unit, including adevice for selecting an object to be located and for activating a searchsignal, and indicating means, including a device for activating anindicating signal at the reception of a search signal emitted by asecond, cooperating locating unit.
 2. A locating unit according to claim1, claim 1 the search signal can be activated to be emitted at fixedintervals for the supervision of objects.
 3. A locating unit accordingto claim 1, wherein it is provided with a keypad for selecting objectsto be located and for activating the search signal.
 4. A locating unitaccording to claim 1, wherein it is provided with a display.
 5. Alocating unit according to claim 1, wherein it is provided with soundemitting means indicating that a searched object has been located.
 6. Alocating unit according to claim 1, wherein it is provided withvibrating means indicating that a searched object has been located.
 7. Alocating unit according to claim 1, wherein it is applied to a mobilephone by being integrated with the mobile phone.
 8. A method of locatingone or more objects, each being provided with a locating unit accordingto claim 1, wherein locating of the objects can be performedreciprocally, by any of them constituting a searched object which islocated by way of the searched object being selected and a search signalactivated on a first locating unit applied to any of the other objects,the first locating unit functioning as a searcher which wirelesslyestablishes contact with a second, cooperating locating unit applied tothe searched object, the second locating unit functioning as anindicator and activates an indicating signal.
 9. A method according toclaim 8, wherein one of the objects comprises a mobile phone beingintegrated with a locating unit.
 10. A method according to claim 8,wherein an indicating signal is activated both on the indicatinglocating unit and on the searching locating unit when contact isestablished between cooperating locating units.
 11. A method forsupervising one or more objects, each one provided with a locating unitaccording to claim 1, wherein a search signal is activated to be emittedat fixed intervals and that an indicating signal is activated when asearch results in that no contact has been established.